40 Under 40: Desai

As a freshman at Brown University, Tejal A. Desai lambasted the school in a 300-page report, citing inequities in everything from curriculum to financial aid to admissions policies.

"I was so into everything else except engineering," says Ms. Desai, 27, who marched in student protests, organized talks on Third World issues and sat on boards of domestic violence shelters. "I almost failed out of school that year."

Her flirtation with academic failure was decidedly short-lived. In fact, she earned a doctorate in bioengineering at age 25 from the University of California at Berkeley.

Ms. Desai, the daughter of immigrants from India, is the youngest engineering professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago and one of only three women among the school's 101 engineering professors.

But inside her scientist's skin still beats the heart of an activist. Ms. Desai -- whose research focuses on cell and tissue analysis aimed at helping diabetics and cancer patients -- continues pushing to lure more women and minorities into science.

"There are plenty of smart people out there but very few are as smart as Tejal, and even fewer have a great brain and a great heart," says Mauro Ferrari, Ms. Desai's Ph.D. adviser at Berkeley. "What she exemplifies is having great talent and using it for the right reasons."

At UIC, Ms. Desai is helping to create the bioengineering department -- designing courses, recruiting faculty and students and drumming up support from other universities and corporations.

Ms. Desai's 130 students -- many of whom are older than she -- often mistake her for a student, but it's a challenge she's overcome. "It involves earning their respect in terms of knowing the material," she says. "If I didn't know what I was talking about, then there would be a problem."